Tell Me Why
by Alexandra Depp
Summary: Joe's gone way in over his head when he finds himself falling for a guy. Can he keep his feelings a secret from his brothers, his friends and more importantly, the crush himself? Joe x OC JONAS fanfic ;D
1. Chapter 1

Joe had never seen anything so beautiful.

A profound statement by all means could still not have been any more simple as he watched the most precious of all entities stroll down the hallway with God-given grace. It was a perfect movie moment in which Joe found his eyes locked upon a face so stunning that he felt his retinas would burn from the pressure. It was one of those things people always spoke of where you saw "the one" and time itself seemed to stop. Joe hadn't believed in such things before but there was no denying this feeling. What was it? A crush? Infatuation? No. It had to be something else.

"Hey Joe"

Joe had heard something but it would be plenty more 'hey Joes' before any of it would register. He was now watching beauty incarnate turn a corner and it felt as if his heart would burst if he let perfection walk away.

"Ow!"

There was no ignoring the sudden pain in his scalp no matter how far gone he may have been. Snapping his neck to the side, Joe glared daggers at the source of his discomfort.

"WHAT?"

"And that's how we get your attention," Kevin piped cheerily.

Joe dealt his older brother a look that screamed 'we are not amused' before turning his attention to the youngest of their famous trio, the ever serious Nick who seemed just as befuddled by Kevin's actions as he was. Though with Nick, who could really tell.

"What do you want, guys?" Joe asked irritably, mentally reminding himself not to rub the ache away lest he wind up messing with his perfectly styled hair. Hey, looking good didn't come easy.

Kevin and Nick seemed to share a look though it was far too quick for Joe to catch.

"You forgot about our band rehearsal, didn't you?"

It only took Joe a moment before he'd open his mouth because really, he wasn't one to think before talking and nor did he lose himself in such situations. Improv was his forte.

"Pft. No, I didn't forget. I was just...on my way to find you guys," he replied with a practiced matter-of-factness.

Nick's brow quirked in the barest hint of emotional shift. "Riiight. Which is why we found you here, staring blindly off into space."

"YEAH. What is that your...I forgot we had band rehearsal so I'm gonna look extra goofy in hopes of distracting Nick and Kevin from the fact that I did forget about the band rehearsal after school face?"

Joe's face contorted into a look of utter confusion as he attempted to think up a clever reply of some sort. "No I... What?"

"Never mind," Nick interrupted, "what were you staring at, anyways?"

"Not what, Nicholas. Who," Joe replied with a smirk they had come to recognize as the 'I just saw a really hot girl' smirk.

Nick's brows furrowed further as he stared down the hallway in which his brother had been gawking at mere moments ago. "Uh, the only person we saw walking down there was Lex."

"And Phil the janitor," Kevin added knowingly.

Joe rubbed a hand over his shaved chin, masking an oncoming grin as his eyes once again began to glaze over in remembrance of the angel he had just seen. "Lex, huh? What's that short for? Alexandra? Alexis?"

If not for his current nirvana-like state of mind, Joe might have been a little put off by Kevin's sudden giggling fit or Nick's condescending stare followed by a know-it-all head shake.

"More like Alexander."

Joe frowned, not really in the mood to deal with his brothers right now. "Yeah right, just Lex then."

Kevin managed to stop laughing long enough to set him straight. "He's not kidding. That's the new foreign exchange student from Finland."

Joe swallowed, suddenly not feeling so well. "Alexander?"

"Alexander," Nick repeated.

Joe would have gone ahead and had himself a good frowning session followed by a sad song and even sadder gallon of chocolate marshmallow ice cream to drown his sorrows but he couldn't let anyone know he had fallen for a guy. Not even his brothers.

"I don't blame you for the whole Alexis dealio," Kevin replied amiably whilst clamping a hand on Joe's sagging shoulder, "You wouldn't be the first kid in school to mistake him for a girl."

"Or deaf and mute," Nick replied dealing Kevin an odd look.

"I thought his earphones were a hearing aid," Kevin shot defensively.

It was at that moment where Joe's every move seemed to take a lifetime and he could almost witness the decaying of nearby flowers that rested against a classroom window.

Crushing on a guy. Why did these things always happen to him?

A hard pat on the back brought him back to reality as his brothers signaled for him to hurry along. At least they were headed off to do something he loved. Making music could take his mind off of this recent setback. Right?


	2. Chapter 2

"No no no. Wrong wrong ALL WRONG!" Joe proclaimed as he angrily tossed an overused tambourine aside. He was pretty sure he had heard a cat hiss in disapproval from somewhere ways off but he was too frustrated to care. Nothing seemed to be going right today. Not at school, not the band rehearsal and if that wasn't bad enough, his taco had gone stale.

Sighing, the middle Lucas brother rubbed a hand over his reddening face. His bed was looking more and more welcoming by the minute.

Kevin frowned from his spot. "Dude, easy on Mr. Tambo. It's not his fault he's old and overused. How would you like it if someone constantly shook and thumped you against their leg, huh?"

Joe could only respond with the flattest of all stares.

"Thought so," Kevin replied, quickly looking away so as to avoid any further wrath.

Nick opted for a more compassionate approach as he dealt his older brother a concerned look. "What's up with you today? You've been acting weird ever since we got home."

"I know what it is!" Kevin exclaimed before Joe could get a word in, "it's cause I ate the last cupcake, isn't it? I'm sorry, okay? It was late at night and I was hungry and you didn't hear the way it was calling out to me. Like 'eat me, Keviiiiin. Eeeeeaaaat meeeeeee.' How can I resist such blatant requests?"

This time is was both their turns to deal the eldest member of Jonas a strange look.

"It's not the cupcake. It's just..."

"Just what?"

"I don't know. Maybe I just didn't get enough sleep last night."

"Oh so you did hear the cupcake calling me!"

If not for Stella's sudden entrance, Joe would have had some choice words for his older brother but he was cut short by the sight of what followed Stella. Or rather, who followed Stella.

"Surprise, surprise," Stella chirped with the usual broad smile set upon her face.

"Hey Stel," Nick greeted whilst setting his drum sticks down.

"Band rehearsal done already?" she inquired.

The brothers shared a look before more or less offering a yes.

"Aw that's too bad," she replied while turning to her guest," because I brought Lex by to listen in. Sorry Lex."

The blond gave a simple shrug of his slender shoulders and smiled in a way that only made it seem that he didn't mind in the least.

"Well we can still get to the introductions. Guys, this is Lex our new foreign exchange student from Finland. I volunteered to show him around while he stays here and Lex, these are the members of Jonas. That's Nick, that's Kevin and that's Joe."

"Hi" they all greeted simultaneously.

There was no awkwardness that usually came from initial introductions between the boys and the newcomer. It was as if mutual respect had been bound to them long before he had even stepped into the room. Well, all except for one who was having a rather hard time keeping his cool.

"How are you liking it here so far, Lex?" Nick asked politely.

The boy seemed to mull over the fair question for a second and would have answered if not for the sudden interruption.

"Dude, you're doing it all wrong. Here. Watch this," Kevin began as he stepped towards Lex with an eager grin plastered on his face, "HELLO THERE, LEX. YOU-LIKE-AMER-I-CA?" Therein followed many hand gestures no one could properly decipher.

Nick could only bring a hand to his face to hide his shame while Joe looked on in horror at Lex who seemed confused but not in the least bit offended.

"Uh Kevin, he's Finnish not deaf and he speaks fluent English and understands it perfectly well. You don't have to do that," Stella explained, a tad horrified herself.

"Oh," Kevin replied, a bit disappointed that his act of kindness had gone unappreciated.

"That's okay," Lex replied in a smooth and somewhat shy tone, "thank you for trying to make me feel welcome. And to answer your question, Nick, I'm liking it a lot. America's a lot more populous than where I come from."

"Yeah that's us! Popular."

"Lous. Populous," Nick corrected irritably while clamping a firm hand on Kevin's shoulder so as to shush him.

Meanwhile, Joe had snuck up behind Stella and gave her a good hard jab to get her attention.

Stella caught herself before she yelled and turned around angrily. "What?"

"You. Over there. Now."

Stella dealt him a frown to remember before turning to the others with a sweet smile, "just give us a second. You guy continue to mingl-"

Joe pulled her along before she could finish and dragged her a safe distance away so no one could hear them, yet he still felt the need to whisper.

"What is your problem? I have to use this arm to design clothes for you, you know," Stella hissed.

"My problem? What's YOUR problem? How could you bring him here?"

"Who Lex?"

"No the Easter bunny. YES LEX," Joe shot in annoyance.

"What's wrong with bringing him here? I figured he could make friends and he's a musician too. You guys could learn from each other and you know...jam. And anyways, why isn't Lex welcome here, huh?"

Under those scrutinizing eyes, Joe felt helpless and he could already feel the sweat beginning to build on his forehead. Lying was hard enough but to Stella? He'd have to tread extra carefully here.

"It's not that he's not welcome it's just...just..."

"Just what?"

Joe paused, actually thinking before responding this time. "We should be given more notice before a guest from a foreign country arrives. You saw what happened in there with Kevin. What if we had offended him really badly?"

She seemed to consider this fairly and dealt him a look that he recognized as a pride battle. She hated to let him know when he was right. "Well, okay that's fair. But Lex is a nice guy and I really think you three would get along with him well. Did I mention that he's a musician?"

Joe allowed his gaze to wander past his friend to study the blond male as he strummed one of Kevin's guitars with practiced ease. Those long slender fingers definitely belonged to an artist. They were precise and clever and so beautifully pale he could hardly believe it. Of course Lex was a musician.

Before he could slip into another comfortable daze, Joe felt Stella return the earlier jab he had given her but this one was to his ribs and extra sharp. "Ow! What?"

"You're ignoring me."

"No I'm not. Yeah, I got that he was a musician the first time around. So what?"

Stella favoured Joe with a look he had come to hate. It was a look he got often and so condescending that it ached. "You're so dense. HELLO. Okay. Let me go through this slowly. Lex is a musician. You three are also musicians. Lex sings. You three sing. Lex plays instruments. You three play instruments."

Joe just blinked. "What's your point?"

Stella's face fell. "Oh my goodness."

"You expect me to just let some guy I barely know sing my songs and play my instruments?"

"Kevin and Nick don't see to have a problem with it," Stella replied rather smartly as she motioned to the smiling trio of boys not too far off.

Joe set his mouth into a thin line of aggravation before turning back to Stella. "No way."

Stella simply rolled her eyes and walked past him as if ignoring anything he had to say. "You'll come around."

"No I won't," Joe muttered to himself as he watched his loved ones laugh along with the whirlwind that had just entered his life. And suddenly his plan to use music as an escape wasn't working so well. What a day it was turning out to be.


End file.
